DUBUQUE STEAM SUPPLY COMPANY

DUBUQUE STEAM SUPPLY COMPANY. The Dubuque Steam Supply Company was organized May 20, 1879, with the following officers who still served in 1911: George Benjamin BURCH, President; John N. Manning, Superintendent; A. J. Van Duzee, Treasurer, and A. Palmer, Secretary. The business was located near the corner of Sixth and Iowa STREETS. The boilers were located in the cellar and in the upper stories the machinery necessary to distribute the steam was housed.

From the building where the steam was generated, large main pipes were laid along the leading streets of the city. From these mains, feeding pipes ran and were connected with any store, office or residence where the steam was wanted.

In case of fire, every house had the means to extinguish it right at hand. Perforated pipes could be placed in the rooms of the house; when the flames broke out the steam could be turned on and the fire quenched.

Steam may be could be taken from the mains and used to run fire engines. In this way fire engines were be made much lighter and more easily and rapidly transported. Every house was supplied with hot water at all times. All the cooking could be done by steam.

The company used four large boilers, with which to generate the steam. The capacity of the boilers was 4,000,000 cubic feet per day, with which 1,500,000 cubic feet of air could be heated. The pipes started from the feeder near the corner of Sixth and Iowa streets, on Iowa to Sixth, to Main from Second, to Fifteenth, to Locust, to Ninth, to Bluff, to Sixth, to Main, to Locust, to the works.

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Source:

Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County